Joe Smith, laborer by day and prize fighter when possible, sells himself as the common man. But there’s nothing common about how Jesse Hart sees him. Smith has become a cause, a rallying cry for Hart to avenge a loss suffered by a man who has always been his mentor.
Hart remembers the night when Smith knocked Bernard Hopkins out of the ring more than three years ago in Los Angeles. Smith made Hopkins look like an old man, which of course he was. Hopkins was 51. Yet the memory still haunts Hart, who intends to exorcise it in a light heavyweight fight Saturday night in Atlantic City on ESPN.
Hart says the fight isn’t about money, or a possible shot at a major belt, or any of the other usual motivations. It’s strictly personal, he says. It’s about family, he says. It also about north Philadelphia, Hopkin’s home.
Smith (24-3, 20 KOs) hears Hart (26-2, 21 KOs) and tries to understand. But he is also quick to remind Hart that every fight is personal. Your nose gets broken. Your blood is spilled. That’s about as personal as it gets.
“It’s always personal with me as well,’’ Smith said this week in a conference call. “Personal for me, and I’m also fighting for my family and other things.’’
Smith goes into the fight without any evident trepidation about facing a hyper-motivated Hart. An overly-emotional Hart might walk right into the same power that knocked Hopkins through the ropes and onto the floor in an eighth-round stoppage Dec. 17, 2016 at the Forum.
For Smith, the motivation is business-like. Hart represents an opportunity for him to get beyond a unanimous decision loss to Dmitry Bivol on March 9. He also lost to Sullivan Barrera on July 15, 2017 in his first fight after the Hopkins’ stunner.
“Yeah, I have to get past Jesse Hart on Saturday night,’’ Smith said. “You know, I’m hoping to stay busy this year. I want to fight a few times. I want to make 2020 my year. I’m really looking forward to it.’’
Hart, a former super middleweight fighting at light heavy for only the second time, has other ideas. He hopes that he can make Smith regret it.
“I want to take Joe to that Ali-Frazier III type of knock-down, drag-out fight,’’ Hart said during the conference call. “Where Ali said it was the closest he was to death. I want to see if he quits then. That’s how far I want to push Joe. I want to stay in there, and I want to see where it’s at. I wanna see if he’s going to quit then with me.
“I know what I’m looking to do. I know I’m not looking to quit that night under no circumstances.’’